GRAPHIC WARNING: Harrowing scenes of the planet’s most exploited animal being bludgeoned and boiled for the illegal wildlife trade have been captured by an undercover investigator.

The pitiful pangolin endures a horrific killing as it is first smoked out of its hiding place inside a hollow tree and then repeatedly struck over the head with a machete by a poacher. Finally, it is cooked in a cauldron of boiling water, possibly still alive, before being stripped of its armoured coating of scales for the oriental medicine trade. These shocking scenes emerged today after an investigation by World Animal Protection and Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit into the plight of the most illegally traded creature on the planet.

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Prince William once warned that pangolins were so exploited by trafficking networks they were likely to become extinct before most people had heard of them.

With a million pangolins taken from the wild between 2000 and 2013, all eight species across Africa and Asia are threatened with extinction, their conservation status ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered.

The pangolin’s dire predicament is because of the £1,000 a pound value oriental medicine places on the reptile-like scales the mammal has evolved to protect itself from predators.

Made from keratin, the same substance as human toe and finger nails, they provide little defence to a poacher armed with huge machete.

Burning over a naked flame. A method used to remove scales before eating pangolin (Image: Neil D'Cruze. World Animal Protection)

Footage obtained by the undercover investigator in Assam, north east India, shows how the pangolin is smoked out of its hiding place in a tree, then trodden on and slapped while being put into a black haversack.

The next shocking scenes show the pangolin being struck three times with a machete across the back of its neck before being placed head first into a cauldron of boiling water.

Having been cooked, the poachers peel the scales off as if shelling peas and place their haul into a basket.

“Suffocated with smoke, beaten and boiled alive – this is a terrifying ordeal and pangolins clearly suffer immensely,” declared Dr Neil D’Cruze, global wildlife advisor and lead researcher at World Animal Protection today as the film captured on a mobile phone was released.

“This footage shines a spotlight on how shocking the practice of hunting pangolins truly is.

"Not only is this a major conservation issue – it’s a devastating animal welfare concern. If we want to protect pangolins from pain and suffering in the countries they come from, we need to tackle the illegal poaching trade”

Researchers from World Animal Protection and Oxford University spent two years interviewing pangolin hunters and discovering how a single kill can produce a windfall equivalent to four months’ salary. The hunters are oblivious to how the poaching becomes part of a lucrative black market with scales trafficked into China and Vietnam.

More than 20 tons of pangolin scales and meat – estimated to be worth around £45 million – have been smuggled along shadowy conduits to sate the palates and superstitions of the Far East’s nouveau riche in recent years.

While pangolin meat is regarded a delicacy, the scales are hailed a panacea for many ills. If cooked in boys’ urine, for instance, they are said to soothe crying children and “cure women possessed by ogres”.